Breaking the myth about eggs
Like a lot of people, you probably love eggs ( I do, I can eat it morning, noon, and night). But like most people, you probably believe that eggs could clog up the arteries, which can lead to a heart attack. Well, the hearty good news is that eggs are okay, according to a recent report.
“I feel relieved that we stood by our conviction promoting egg as a healthy food,” our good friend Dr. Jun Respicio, a nutritionist from Hawaii, says with a sigh as he shares this eggciting report by the Associated Press in Washington.
To repeat the report: “Dietary cholesterol is not considered a nutrient of concern for overconsumption. This follows increasing medical research showing the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream is more complicated than once thought.”
A government advisory committee says that current evidence shows no significant relationship between heart disease and one’s dietary cholesterol intake. However, the eggsperts recommend that you eat less saturated fat (limit it to 10 percent of total calories). The report doesn’t say how much eggs — or cholesterol — you may eat.
But the British Nutrition Foundation says if you have a normal cholesterol level and you’re eating a balanced diet, it’s quite okay for you to eat one egg a day without having to worry about increasing your blood cholesterol levels. According to the British Egg Information Service, dietary cholesterol is not a major cause of high blood cholesterol levels. Besides, if your dietary cholesterol rises, your body makes up for it by producing less cholesterol of its own.
According to the American Heart Association, a whole egg (yes, both the white and yellow yolk) can be part of a healthy daily diet. Separating fat from fiction, the eggsperts say that eggs are an excellent source of protein and are surprisingly low in saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol levels. So, please don’t throw away the egg yolk which contains nearly half the protein of an entire egg, plus all the vitamins and minerals and omega 3s.
Now, to unscramble another egg myth. Is brown egg healthier than white egg? Answer: They’re no different nutritionally speaking — the only difference is the color of their shells, which comes from the fact that hens with white earlobes lay white eggs while hens with red earlobes lay brown eggs.
The report clearly sends out this basic message, as in past guidelines: Eat less saturated fats (as found in red and processed meats), and eat more fruits and vegetables and whole grains. The report likewise tackles a brewing controversy as it gives a hearty thumbs-up for coffee. The panel says that coffee is good for you. There’s evidence that “three to five cups of coffee a day can be part of a healthy diet, and that it’s even associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”
A friendly word of warning though: Don’t add calories to your coffee with cream, milk, and added sugars. Also, pregnant women should limit their caffeine intake to two cups of coffee a day.
The final 2015 dietary guidelines are expected to be out by the end of the year. Meanwhile, take this sweet advice: Your sugar intake should be no more than about 200 calories a day (about the amount in a 16-ounce sugary drink), according to a panel of doctors and nutritionists. So, go easy on those sugary juices/beverages.
The report stresses that this recommendation is part of a bigger effort “to help consumers isolate added sugars from naturally occurring ones like those in fruit and milk.” The reason is that added sugars generally add only empty calories to your diet.
Thus, say no to sugary drinks (and sweeteners) and a sweet yes to water, the experts prescribe.
Stay tuned for more eggciting developments.